Entertainment Law Newsletter | Aug 13, 2026

Key Focus

The Xuhui District People’s Court of Shanghai concluded the first criminal case nationwide involving game-related copyright infringement arising from the leaking of game content under the new judicial interpretation on intellectual property—disseminating, without permission, unpublished game art works and profiting therefrom, where the relevant videos have been viewed more than 100,000 times, falls within the “other serious circumstances” as stipulated for the crime of copyright infringement, and constitutes the crime of copyright infringement.
The No. 3 Intermediate People’s Court of Shanghai concluded a criminal case involving copyright infringement related to the TV series “Blossoms”—disseminating a large number of audiovisual works via overseas websites and apps without authorization and for profit, where the relevant works have been viewed more than 1 million times, falls within the “especially serious circumstances” as stipulated for the crime of copyright infringement; the defendant was sentenced to four years and six months’ imprisonment and fined RMB 7 million.
The Shijingshan District People’s Procuratorate of Beijing concluded a criminal case involving a private server of the game “Battle of the Fish King” for copyright infringement—the unauthorized establishment and operation of a private server that is substantively similar to the genuine game, in accordance with the law, constitutes the crime of copyright infringement; in this series of cases, the total amount of illegal business operations exceeded RMB 20 million, and persons involved in technical setup, promotional traffic diversion and fund settlement may also constitute joint offenders; 12 defendants were sentenced respectively.

News

National Radio and Television Administration: In July 2026, continued to advance the normalized governance of infringing dissemination of TV dramas, dovetailing with the “Jianwang 2026” special campaign, and included Xunlei as a key monitoring platform; during the month, a total of 3.85 million infringing audiovisual links were removed and 385 infringing accounts were dealt with, with continued stringent crackdowns on the dissemination of pirated audiovisual content.
The National Copyright Administration published the eleventh batch of the 2026 early-warning list of key works for copyright protection (theatrical films), covering ten theatrical films including “Johnny Keep Walking! 2”, “PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie 3: Adventure on Dinosaur Island” and “Odyssey”.
The National Copyright Administration published the third batch of exemplary cases for building China into a strong copyright country (a total of 36 cases): covering multiple fields including copyright protection, law enforcement, international communication and industry services, and involving audiovisual works, musical works and books.
As of 9 August, 2026 summer season box office (including presales) exceeded RMB 8.5 billion, annual total box office (including presales) exceeded RMB 24 billion, and the total value of the entire film industry chain for the year exceeded RMB 380 billion.
China Audio-Visual Big Data: In July 2026, the cumulative viewing time of newly broadcast programs on national satellite TV channels reached 6.20 billion hours, a year-on-year increase of 6.8%; the Canada–USA–Mexico World Cup recorded 7.39 billion large-screen viewings, with a total viewing time of 2.06 billion hours.
China Audio-Visual Big Data released “CVB 2026 Online Variety Show Data Observation”: From January to July 2026, major online audiovisual platforms launched a total of 94 new variety shows; newly launched programs this year accounted for 74% of the top 10 variety shows by platform viewing volume, highlighting the cross-season long-tail effect of multi-season variety IPs.
The Guangdong Radio, Film and Television Industry Association released “Observation on the Development of the Micro-Short Drama Industry in Guangdong”: 14 prefecture-level cities across the province have introduced support policies for micro-short dramas; Shenzhen took the lead in launching an industry support plan, and the top three platforms in terms of overseas revenue from micro-short dramas—ReelShort, DramaBox and GoodShort—have all established a presence in Shenzhen.
Sensor Tower: In July 2026, global player spending on mobile games reached USD 6.6 billion, a month-on-month increase of 7.7%; “Honor of Kings” rose to the top of the global mobile game revenue rankings and ranked second in mobile game revenue growth; “Peacekeeper Elite” and “PUBG Mobile” ranked fourth and fifth respectively in revenue growth.
China Literature Group: In the first half of 2026, revenue reached RMB 3.53 billion, a year-on-year increase of 10.7%; revenue from short dramas and AI comic dramas exceeded RMB 430 million, a year-on-year increase of 2.3 times; IP copyright business revenue increased by 41.9% year-on-year to RMB 1.61 billion; 46 AI comic dramas each recorded more than 100 million views.

Key Focus

The Xuhui District People’s Court of Shanghai Concluded the First Criminal Case Nationwide Involving Game-Related Copyright Infringement Arising from Leaking Game Content under the New Judicial Interpretation on Intellectual Property

In order to attract traffic and obtain platform creative incentives and user reward income, since 2024, defendants Wu XX and Su XX have continuously and extensively published on online video platforms confidential in-game live content that had not yet been made public, including game characters, scenes and skill animations from miHoYo’s games “Honkai: Star Rail”, “Zenless Zone Zero” and others. In October 2025, upon receiving leads from the enterprise, the Xuhui Branch of the Shanghai Public Security Bureau initiated an investigation and arrested the above criminal suspects.

The case was prosecuted by the Xuhui District People’s Procuratorate, and tried by the Xuhui District People’s Court. The court held that the unpublished game character images involved in the case constitute art works and should be protected under the Copyright Law. Without permission from the copyright owner, the two defendants, for profit-making purposes, disseminated the unpublished art works involved in the case via the internet, and directly profited by participating in the platform’s creative incentive program through publishing the relevant videos. The infringing videos were viewed more than 600,000 times and 300,000 times respectively, exceeding the criminal prosecution threshold of “being viewed more than 100,000 times” stipulated in item (4) of Article 13 of the Interpretation of Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in the Handling of Criminal Cases Involving Infringement of Intellectual Property Rights, and falling within “other serious circumstances”; the acts of the two defendants constitute the crime of copyright infringement. Ultimately, the court sentenced defendant Su XX to one year and two months’ imprisonment, suspended for one year and two months, and imposed a fine; defendant Wu XX was sentenced to one year’s imprisonment, suspended for one year, and fined.

This case is the first criminal case in the context of game content leakage in which the new criminal judicial interpretation on intellectual property issued by the Supreme People’s Court and the Supreme People’s Procuratorate has been applied, further clarifying the boundaries of criminal liability for game content leakage.

Source: Xinwen Chenbao (Morning News)

The No. 3 Intermediate People’s Court of Shanghai Concluded a Criminal Case Involving Copyright Infringement Related to “Blossoms”; the Defendant Was Sentenced to Four Years and Six Months’ Imprisonment and Fined RMB 7 Million

Since 2022, defendant Wang XX, together with overseas individuals, has operated an overseas video website and app, disseminating a large number of Chinese audiovisual works via information networks without authorization and for profit, through membership fees, commercial advertising placements and other means. Wang XX was responsible for advertising placement, promotion and other work for the overseas platform, and established a company within China to provide technical support for the platform. Upon investigation, the overseas platform disseminated more than 4,000 unauthorized audiovisual works, among which the Mandarin and Shanghainese versions of “Blossoms” were viewed more than 5 million times and 3 million times respectively. Pursuant to Article 13 of the Interpretation of Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in the Handling of Criminal Cases Involving Infringement of Intellectual Property Rights issued by the Supreme People’s Court and the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, Wang XX has committed the act of disseminating others’ works to the public via information networks, with the number of views exceeding 1 million times, which constitutes “especially serious circumstances”.

In March 2025, the Jing’an District People’s Procuratorate instituted a public prosecution against him for the crime of copyright infringement. During the trial, the defense raised a plea of not guilty, arguing that the platform’s viewing figures might have been inflated and could not represent the actual dissemination. In response, the public prosecutor produced a specialized appraisal opinion and comparative screenshots of the drama’s popularity before and after broadcasting, proving that the viewing figures had not been artificially increased and were genuine data; the prosecutor also produced recovered electronic device data and chat records to corroborate the criminal facts that Wang XX actually controlled the domestic company, and that the company provided technical support to the overseas pirate website.

Ultimately, the court of first instance found that Wang XX had committed the crime of copyright infringement. In light of the fact that he had previously been given a suspended sentence by the People’s Court of the Taizhou Medical High-tech Industrial Development Zone in Jiangsu Province for the same offense and was currently within the probationary period, the court revoked the suspension and imposed a combined punishment for multiple crimes, ordering the execution of a fixed-term imprisonment of four years and six months and a fine of RMB 7 million. Following the first-instance judgment, Wang XX appealed to the No. 3 Intermediate People’s Court of Shanghai on the grounds that the original judgment erred in its findings of fact and that the evidence was insufficient, and that his conduct did not constitute a crime. On 29 July, the No. 3 Intermediate People’s Court of Shanghai rendered a final ruling dismissing the appeal and upholding the original judgment.

Source: Justice Net

The Shijingshan District People’s Procuratorate of Beijing Concluded a Criminal Case Involving a Private Server of the Game “Battle of the Fish King” for Copyright Infringement; the Total Amount of Illegal Business Operations in the Series of Cases Exceeded RMB 20 Million, and 12 Defendants Were Sentenced Respectively

Image source: Shijingshan Procuratorate

A certain game development company discovered that user activity for its hit mobile game “Battle of the Fish King” had dropped sharply. Upon investigation, relevant individuals had obtained the game’s server-side program without authorization, set up and operated a private server that was highly similar to the genuine game in terms of login page, game graphics, characters and props, and promoted and diverted traffic via short video platforms and streamers by offering “top up RMB 1 for RMB 20 credit” and similar schemes. In November 2023, the company reported the case to the Culture and Tourism Bureau of Shijingshan District, Beijing, on the grounds that its copyright had been infringed; following consultations between the administrative law enforcement authority and the Shijingshan District People’s Procuratorate, the case was transferred to the public security authority for criminal filing in January 2024.

With the assistance of technical experts, the authorities handling the case compared the programs, resource files and interface designs involved, and confirmed that the private server program and the genuine game program were substantively similar. In view of the fact that the persons involved used overseas encryption software, virtual currency and false company accounts to conceal transactions and transfer funds, the authorities handling the case sorted through more than one million electronic data records to reconstruct a complete capital chain, increasing the initially identified amount of illegal business operations from RMB 5 million to more than RMB 15 million, and ascertained the criminal chain composed of technical setup, streamer-led traffic diversion and fund settlement.

From August 2024 to August 2025, 16 criminal suspects were arrested one after another, the cumulative amount of illegal business operations in this series of cases exceeded RMB 20 million, and more than RMB 3 million in economic losses were recovered for the game development company. As of the end of June 2026, upon public prosecution by the Shijingshan District People’s Procuratorate, all 12 defendants were sentenced by the People’s Court for the crime of copyright infringement to fixed-term imprisonment ranging from three years and nine months to seven months, and fined between RMB 750,000 and RMB 50,000. The remaining four persons involved have also been transferred for review and prosecution.

This case demonstrates that obtaining a network game’s server-side program without permission from the copyright owner, and setting up, operating and providing to the public a private server that is substantively similar to the genuine game, where the statutory threshold for criminalization is met, constitutes the crime of copyright infringement in accordance with the law. Persons who, knowing that the private server is unauthorized, nevertheless participate in its operation and profit therefrom through promotional traffic diversion, top-up revenue sharing or fund settlement, may also bear criminal liability if they meet the constituent elements of joint crime, even if they did not directly copy the game program.

Source: Shijingshan Procuratorate

News

National Radio and Television Administration: In July 2026, continued to advance the normalized governance of infringing dissemination of TV dramas, dovetailing with the “Jianwang 2026” special campaign, and included Xunlei as a key monitoring platform; during the month, a total of 3.85 million infringing audiovisual links were removed and 385 infringing accounts were dealt with, with continued stringent crackdowns on the dissemination of pirated audiovisual content.

Source: CCTV News

The National Copyright Administration published the eleventh batch of the 2026 early-warning list of key works for copyright protection (theatrical films), covering ten theatrical films including “Johnny Keep Walking! 2”, “PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie 3: Adventure on Dinosaur Island” and “Odyssey”.